We had a chance to see a demo of AMD FreeSync, a new DisplayPort 1.2 standard that gets rid of screen tearing in games.

It uses variable refresh rate technology and syncs the rendering rate of the GPU and the number of frames that you get on the monitor. This prevents this ugly picture tearing that we see on traditional monitors, without G-Sync or FreeSync.

This is AMD's alternative to Nvidia's G-Sync and it works just as well as Nvidia's standard, and of course FreeSync works exclusively on AMD graphics cards. We had a chance to see BenQ, Samsung and LG monitors in action and we saw FreeSync in action at 3840x2160, 2560x1600 and Ultra Wide 2560x1080 resolutions.

The BenQ XL2730Z is a 27-inch 2560x1600 144 Hz monitor with a TN panel. It was running a Tomb Raider demo and worked just fine. You won't see any tearing unless the framerate drops to unplayable rates, under 30FPS or so.

The 28-inch Samsung UE590 monitor delivers 3840x2160 at 60Hz and it was running a windmill demo, where you could turn FreeSync on and off. You can really notice the difference and it is clear that FreeSync delivers a much better experience.

LG's 29UM67 is a 2560x1080 IPS Ultra Wide panel (21:9) that will be attractive for the users who like this form factor. You will be able to put two A4 pages on this monitor and in gaming it will look good in strategies, racing games and many other genres.

AMD promises a dozen or so FreeSync monitors this quarter. Some might start shipping in the next two weeks, with 20 monitors coming through the rest of the year. It is important to mention that unlike Nvidia G-Sync monitors, FreeSync monitors come with HDMI, MHL, DVI and other similar connectors while the first generation of G-Sync comes exclusively with DisplayPort 1.2 and nothing else.

Maingear has officially announced its latest small form factor (SFF) gaming system, the SPARK, which is based on AMD's quad-core A8-5557M APU and packs an R9 M275X dedicated graphics card.

Measuring just 114.3x107.4x59.4mm (4.5x4.23x2.34-inches), the new Maingear SPARK packs quite a punch for its size. The heart of the Maingear SPARK is AMD's quad-core A8-5557M Richland APU clocked at 2.1GHz base and 3.1GHz Turbo clocks. The A8-5557M APU packs Radeon HD 8550G integrated GPU with 256 Stream Processors. It has a TDP of 35W.

In addition to the intergrated GPU inside the APU, the SPARK also features AMD Radeon R9 M275X GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 memory. The R9 M275X GPU is part of AMD's R9 M200 series and has 10 Compute Units for 640 Stream Processors, 40 TMUs and 16 ROPs. It is usually connected to 2GB of GDDR5 memory via 128-bit memory interface. According to AMD's official details, it is clocked at up to 925MHz for the GPU and 1125MHz (4500MHz) for the memory.

The rest of the Maingear SPARK specifications are not bad either as it has two SO-DIMM memory slots for up to 16GB of DDR3-1600 memory, one mSATA slot with support for up to 512GB SSD and one 2.5-inch SATA 6Gbps slot for HDD/SSD, Gigabit Ethernet via Realtek RTL8111G chip, Realtek ALC269 audio, integrated 802.11ac DualBand WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 in half-size mPCIe slot, HDMI and mini DisplayPort outputs and four USB 3.0 ports.

Maingear's SPARK comes without OS and and gives you an option to either go for Linux or Valve's SteamOS, although we are quite sure that Microsoft's Windows 8.1 will work just fine as well.

The price of the Maingear SPARK starts at US $699 and includes four free games valued at $200 from AMD's Reward program. Unfortunately, Maingear's systems are reserved for the US only, but in Europe you can get the Gigabyte BRIX instead, which is more or less the same.

ASUS has announced a new 15.6-inch gaming laptop which will carry the Republic of Gamers badge and packs some serious power, with an Intel Core i7 mobile Haswell quad-core CPU and Nvidia Maxwell based GPU.

The ASUS Republic of Gamers G550JK gaming laptop features the RoG design with a matte black finish, accented with red details. There's an illuminated ROG logo on the lid and the laptop is 27mm thick, the new G550JK will be available with a choice of two different 15.6-inch panels, an AG IPS LED backlit Full HD 1920x1080 or an AG HD LED backlit 1366x768 resolution panel.

Power beast in 15.6-inch format

As noted, the ASUS ROG G550JK is based on Intel's mobile HM86 chipset and packs Intel Core i7-4700HQ mobile Haswell quad-core CPU, which features Hyper Threading and Intel Turbo Boost 2.0, has 6MB of L3 cache, 47W TDP and works at 2.4GHz base and 3.4GHz Turbo Boost clocks. The CPU can be paried with up to 16GB of DDR3 1600MHz memory.

ASUS also equipped the new ROG G550JK gaming notebook with Nvidia's Geforce GTX 850M Maxwell GPU which will be available with either 2 or 4GB of DDR3 memory depending on the SKU. Although there are quite a few different settings for the GTX 850M, it generally has 640 CUDA cores, works at 876MHz for the GPU and can outperform the Kepler based GTX 765M, despite having fewer CUDA cores. It packs a 128-bit memory interface and can be paired with either 5000MHz clocked GDDR5 memory, or, as in case of the G550JK notebook, DDR3 memory clocked at 2000MHz. It also supports Nvidia Battery Boost, GameStream, ShadowPlay, GPU Boost 2.0, Optimus, PhysX, CUDA, SLI and GeForce Experience.

Feature packed gaming lappie

As far as storage is concerned, the new ASUS ROG G550JK will be available with a couple of different configurations depending on the SKU and pack 2.5-inch SATA 1TB/1.5TB 5400rpm HDD, 2.5-inch 750GB/1TB 7200rpm HDD, single 2.5-inch 750GB SSH 5400rpm HDD or a 2.5-inch 256GB SSD. It also has a couple of ASUS exclusive features including ROG-exclusive ASUS TurboMaster technology with GPU Tweak software which allows the GTX 850M GPU to be overclocked when needed, ASUS SonicMaster Premium, incorporating ICEpower, Bang & Olufsen technology which should give it much better sound and ROG red illuminated chiclet keyboard.

It also comes with all the usual bells and whistles like the 802.11bgn or 802.11 agn WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, Gigabit Ethernet, three USB 3.0 ports, choice of Blu-ray DVD Combo, Super-Multi DVD or Blue-ray Writer for optical drive, 2-in-1 card reader, HD web camera as well as mini DisplayPort and HDMI otuputs. Unfortunately, battery details are not listed on ASUS' official website but we guess that it will be available with couple of different choices depending on the SKU.

Pricing and availability

Unfortunately, we could not find a single ASUS ROG G550JK SKU listed anywhere in Europe or the USA but hopefully this one will soon show up on retail/e-tail shelves. ASUS' announcement also did not shed any light on the price or the availability date.

MSI has launched a new member of the MSI Gaming Series lineup, the 17cm long R9 270X Gaming 2G ITX graphics card aimed to be used with SFF rigs and mini-ITX motherboards.

Based on a custom, 17cm long PCB, as well a custom cooler, the MSI R9 270X Gaming 2G ITX is based on AMD's 28nm Curacao XT GPU with 1280 Stream Processors, 2GB of memory and works at 1030MHz for the GPU base, 1070MHz for the GPU Boost clock while memory ended up at 5.6GHz.

In order to keep the Curacao XT GPU well cooled, MSI used a custom dual-slot cooler with the MSI RADAX fan, a Hybrid Radial/axial fan. The new MSI R9 270X Gaming 2G ITX also feature MSI Military Class 4 components and fea tures two mini-DisplayPort, HDMI and DVI outputs.

Unfortuantely, MSI did not announce any details regarding the availability or the price but a quick check at our favorite price-search engine shows it listed in Europe with a price tag set at €199.90.

Just a few days after they had been officially teased at a press event in Japan, NCIX.com has listed both the MSI R9 290X Gaming and the R9 290 Gaming custom graphics cards that will feature MSI's own TwinFrozr IV Advanced cooler as well as the custom PCB.

According to a rather poor specification list at NCIX.com, both the R9 290X Gaming OC and the R9 290 Gaming OC will both feature a slight factory overclock, putting them at 1040MHz for the R9 290X Gaming OC and 1000MHz for the R9 290 Gaming OC. The pictured PCB shows that MSI did not change much from AMD's reference design, at least in terms of layout, but it did change some components including the memory chips and chokes. The 4GB of GDDR5 memory paired up with a 512-bit memory interface on both graphics cards remained at reference 5GHz.

As expected, both use the same MSI TwinFrozr IV Advanced cooler with red and black color scheme. MSI also included a backplate that should additionaly improve the rigidity of the R9 290(X) Gaming graphics cards.

Razer has the new Razer Tartarus gaming keypad that is the direct successor to its quite popular Razer Nostromo keypad. The new Razer Tartarus will bring the most customizable way of controlling your favorite game and is created with ergonomic comfort and infinite customization options in mind, according to Razer.

The new Razer Tartarus features 25 programmable membane keys and an eight-way directional thumb-pad. The Razer Tartarus keypad can switch between eight key maps and features an adjustable writs-rest pad that will provide comfort during long gaming sessions.

Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director, noted that "The Razer Tartarus places an infinite amount of control into a single hand-literally-affording immense flexibility, power and an ultimately free other hand, which is a deadly competitive advantage. For serious gamers, this keypad can make the difference between victory and defeat."

The rest of the features listed for the new Razer Tartarus include full anti-ghosting capability, unlimited macro lengths, unlimited game profiles, backlit keys, braided fiber cable and comes with support for Razer Synapse 2.0, a proprietary software that allows users to save custom profiles and sync them from anywhere in the world through the cloud system.

The new Razer Tartarus will be avialable all around the world from August 15th with a price set at €79.99/US $79.99.

Nvidia has announced what it calls a "final touch" for its handheld, Android based and Tegra 4 powered Shield console. The new price gets the Shield at US $299 and the official shippind date is 27th of June.

According to Nvidia, all the touchups done to the console recently were a result of a direct feedback from gamers so Shield's buttons have just the right amount of give, thumb sticks are just right and triggers have the perfect throw lenght. Nvidia also noted that a lot of gamers noted that exactly the US $299 price tag was just right and decided to lower it accordingly.

Those that already pre-ordered the Shield should not worry as they will be charged the new lower price as soon as the product ships.

The new US $299 price tag still sounds a bit steep but, on the other hand, it at least a bit more reasonable than the original US $349 one. This still leaves the Shield some $50 more expensive than Playstaion Vita but the games for Shield are much less expensive. Major stores including Newegg, Game stop and microcentar will have Shield in stock on the launch date June 27th.

Steelseries has kicked off its CES 2013 event with two new gaming keyboards, the Apex and the Apex RAW. Featuring quite a few unique enhancements including the low-profile keys, novel design, raised macro-rows for quick access, the Apex line will most certainly end up on quite a few gamer's shopping lists.

Both the Apex and the Apex RAW keyboard feature pretty much the same design and layout except for a slight change in the amount of macro-keys. Both keyboards come with raised macro-keys on the left and top part for easier, faster and more precise macro-combinations, two small tactile bumps on the "W" key for faster WASD cluster detection, superior anti-ghosting with up to 20 key presses, massive space bar and two diagonal direction keys, Steelseries key for on-the-fly brightness adjustment and Windows key disabling, as well as two swappable feet for keyboard angle adjustment.

The Apex is a higher-end model that features Steelseries ActiveZone illumination. In addition to 16.8 million colors, the Activezone illumination also allows independent color customization with up to 8 levels for each of the five separate zones. It also comes with the ability to program each and every key, include 22 macro-keys as well as an independent media and volume keys.

The Apex [RAW] on the other hands ditches the color customization and sticks to a rather interesting white illumination with eight levels of intensity. It still retains the maximum programmability including 17 (one row less on the left side when compared to standard Apex) and can have two layers per key as opposed to four on the Apex.

Both keyboards will be available to consumers in early Q2 2013 with a price set at $99.99/€99.99 for the Apex and $69.99/€69.99 MSRP for the Apex [RAW].

Black Friday has become one of the best times for gamers and those buying for gamers to catch the best bets of the season. This year is no different, but the surprise this year is that best of the best is not what we expected. While the focus, of course, is on the launch of the Wii U, those not interested in the Wii U because they don’t want the Wii U or already own another console might be surprised to learn that once again this year the best deals seem to be targeted at those who want an Xbox 360 or those who already own an Xbox 360. Surprising to us, retailers don’t seem to be making a big play with the PlayStation this holiday season.

Our pick for the best Black Friday deal for a new video game console system was a tie, but the winner was the same. The Xbox 360 at $199 is the best deal going. It is only a question of whether you would rather have the Forza 4 and Skyrim holiday Xbox 360 250GB bundle at Best Buy, or the Xbox 360 with Kinect 4GB bundle with Kinect Adventures and Kinect Disneyland Adventures at Target. In our opinion, the better deal is the Best Buy Xbox 360 Forza 4 and Skyrim 250GB holiday bundle with the single wireless controller and wired headset. We think the advantage of getting the 250GB hard drive is a much better bonus than getting a Kinect, but we can see the Kinect bundle being an excellent replacement for those with younger kids who will have an aging Wii.

As for software for the Xbox 360, hands down our favorite to recommend is the recently released open world Forza Horizon racer for $15 at Wal-Mart. There simply is no better deal on this recently released title, and it is an excellent game that we have been spending a lot of time playing at Fudzilla these days. Of course, many are looking for a deal on the just-released Halo 4, and the best deal has to be at Target where they are selling Halo 4 for $59.99 and throwing in a $20 Target Gift Card with every purchase of it on Black Friday.

It seems that Nintendo was somewhat unprepared for the launch of their latest console as users have been reporting that the initial system update was taking upwards of 30-45 minutes to download. The first update for the Wii U also takes a bit to install even after the download is completed.

With most users getting their consoles later in the day Sunday in the United States, and Monday for those who have them being shipped to them, Nintendo will have some time to work out the their bandwidth issues for the initial update. The update is needed if players want to access online features, transfer data from another Wii and visit the Miiverse.

After unboxing a Deluxe unit picked up at the midnight launch, it took in excess of two hours to download and install the system update. It would be a great feature for Nintendo to allow the background download of future system updates, as users on slower connections could be looking at multiple hours of downloads every time an update is released.

In addition to running the initial system update, users are also prompted to install updates for the pre-loaded Netflix application, as well as any games that you wish to play. The most surprising aspect of the system was that Amazon Video streaming icons were present but unusable until an unknown future date. It seems that other features including Hulu Plus are not available at launch. Additionally, its own TVii service, which allows users to access their TV guide from the GamePad controller and to change the channel from their set-top box using infrared technology, will also not be available. Nintendo's own social network called Miiverse is also missing.

After getting the system update installed, one of the first impressions we can give is is that the menu system, which has been reported on the forums, can be described as severely to extremely sluggish. The wait between menus varies anywhere from ten to fifteen seconds. To me, the Wii U menuing system reminded me of someone trying to run a cutting edge operating system on a minimum requirements computer. Hopefully Nintendo can get this issue straightened quickly, as it is quite painful switching between applications

Also, as reported by some users, the battery life of the included gamepad controller has been extremely underwhelming. The lack of an interchangable battery coupled with a slower than expected recharge time will be a severe limitation for serious gamers. Currently we have not had any issues concerning the signal range of the GamePad.